


Shit, my mom's home early!

by flickerbyniall



Series: Prompts [14]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, anne and gemma dont really appear, i feel i havent write zayn in ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 19:26:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15564786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickerbyniall/pseuds/flickerbyniall
Summary: There’s an unspoken fact between the five of them. Zayn used to keep a lot of stuff to himself – which pays off after the huge fight he had with them and tore them apart –, Liam and Louis are up everyone’s business because they worry too much or maybe Louis is just too nosy, and Niall and Harry are in love. Just neither one would do anything about it.





	Shit, my mom's home early!

“If I have to kiss any of you,” Niall stops just for the dramatics, or maybe because he’s a little too drunk and has to put his thoughts in order so they won’t be twisting what’s coming out of his mouth. “It would be Harry.” And then he smiles, like he just gave a million dollar answer.

Harry holds his breath and he feels like time just stops for him so he looks around him just too see his three friends on the edge of their seat, but the second Niall says his name, they all come back to sit on their pillows and take another drink of their beers.

Niall’s smile is still on his face but his fingers are scratching the beer’s logo off the bottle and he’s avoiding looking at Harry when he knows he’s desperately trying to get a glance of the blue of his eyes. There’s an unspoken fact between the five of them. Zayn used to keep a lot of stuff to himself – which pays off after the huge fight he had with them and tore them apart –, Liam and Louis are up everyone’s business because they worry too much or maybe Louis is just too nosy and Niall and Harry are in love. Just neither one would do anything about it.

It was pretty obvious after they all found each other and became almost inseparable. Louis was the first to catch the looks they gave to each other and how gentle they would be towards the other, he also would see the jealousy in their eyes when they were seeing other people, but they were too dumb or too stubborn to admit their feelings for each other.

Zayn knew but he was quiet about it, especially since he was Harry’s roommate and he had to hear him talk and whimper about Niall almost every day at uni, or when he had to sit next to Niall every time they went out drinking to keep an eye on him because Harry would leave with other people.

Liam was the last to know. He started to suspect when Harry stopped hanging out with them when Niall’s girlfriend was around or the day at the airport when Niall cried saying goodbye to Harry. Louis laughed at him for a long time when he finally told him about it.

“No jokes.” Louis mumbles under his breath but loud enough for the five of them to hear it.

It’s been five years since they finished college and a lot of shit happened in between, especially with Zayn, but Liam has been working to fix their relationship – or create new one – since that day and this is the first time they all agreed to meet in one place. One thing lead to another and now they’re all drunk in Harry’s mom’s house since she’s spending some days in Holmes Chapel.

And it was weird at the beginning of the evening. Zayn is a total different person now and Harry’s been living in the States for the past year so they are all out of sync when they greet each other and try to move in as a group to find a table at the bar and order something to drink and eat, but after a couple of drinks and Niall’s smile to break the tension, they start talking like human beings and even laugh a little.

Harry knows he’s been a little off the whole night, but his plane landed this morning and he hasn’t been able to catch up with Niall like he’d wanted to. There’s a lot of stuff they need to talk about. The first thing that comes to Harry’s mind is Niall’s broken promise of going to visit him in Los Angeles two months after he parted. Or the six months after that, or Harry’s birthday.

He was a little upset if he had to be honest, but it was all forgotten and forgiven the second Niall jumped into his arms and hugged him tight enough to leave him out of breath. After a couple of hours the night turns out to be nice. Harry was grateful for Zayn’s presence because it took all the attention out off his shoulders. He wasn’t ready to answer questions about work, the city or the lack of effort to be in touch with them as he promised. He still has six more months until he can finally come home anyway.

Maybe this can be his old-new normal. The five of them hanging out like they used to. Zayn laughing at whatever Louis does, Liam smiling at them, happy they can talk to each other again and Niall creating the mood for everyone. And Harry just takes it all in, realizing how much he actually missed his friends.

The sound of the spinning bottle on the floor brings Harry back to the present. Niall’s cheeks are still red but no one seems to care anymore, at least not the way Harry does.

“Truth or Dare, Tommo?” Liam asks, looking at the bottle pointing to Louis.

“Dare.” Louis turns to Niall. “I dare myself to dare Niall to kiss Harry.”

Harry is pretty sure it’s the alcohol, but the way he looks to Louis and then Niall makes him feel dizzy. Niall looks up too and their eyes meet for what seems like the first time tonight and Harry just wants to reach for him and kiss him. It doesn’t have to be in front of everyone but at this point, it wouldn’t bother him.

“That makes no sense.” Zayn laughs and if looks could kill, this would be the hundredth time Louis would be charged with Zayn’s murder.

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion,” Louis bites back, slowly standing up with the beer on his hand.

“What are we? 12? Let them work out their stuff alone.” Zayn answers, standing up too, followed by a concerned Liam with a trembling smile on his face.

“Guys-” Liam tries to calm them down, reassuring the space between them by putting his hands on their chests.

“They’re almost thirty, Zayn! When do you think they’ll grow the balls they need to ask each other out? It’s ridiculous-”

Harry feels his neck and his face warm from embarrassment. It’s not like he hasn’t tried before, the timing was just not right. Liam told him a few years later that Niall was ready to ask him out when he told him he was dating this girl in his class, that relationship lasted for almost nine months and Harry was dating a lot after that. Niall got himself into a serious relationship for three years after school. It was then when Harry finally found out he was in love with his best friend and after that, life kept happening and it all seemed like a sick joke.

He’s too embarrassed to look at Niall, but that moment a similar noise to a key opening the door fills the room and everyone goes quiet.

“Shit my mom's home early.” Harry whispers, standing up and gaining everyone’s attention. “Hide!”

“What?” Louis looks at him as Harry picks up the empty bottles and chip bags from the floor until Liam joins him to help.

“Hide!” He whispers again as he searches for Niall’s hand and turns the lights off only to blindly guide Niall into the guests room.

He can feel Niall’s pulse from where his fingers touch his wrist and his breathing is intensifying but he’s also laughing, looking over his shoulder and holding onto Harry’s arm and it finally feels like them. Like _NiallandHarry_ , like the only people in the world that know what the other is thinking or what the other would do. They don’t need words, just one look to know what door they are gonna open to hide.

They can hear the rest of the boys running through the house looking for some place to hide and Louis yelling at Zayn to _go find a place for himself_. For some reason that Niall and Harry can’t understand, they are squatting next to the door, trying to find each other in the dark without making any noise. Anne and Gemma enter the house, speaking loudly and dropping suitcases in the living room where they were a couple of minutes ago.

Harry finds himself in front of Niall, their knees touching and their breaths mixing with each other as Niall reaches for his hand again, because they’re both drunk and they have brought the elephant in the room with them. Harry really needs to talk to Niall, about the ignored calls and the forgotten texts, about the quiet voice mails on birthdays and why they are hurting each other, this time on purpose.

He thinks he has an answer. They’re scared, at least he is because he hasn’t stopped thinking about Niall since he saw him crying at the airport when he turned one last time, and maybe Niall is still mad at him for taking the job when they were fighting again over ridiculous stuff. Harry knew the circle pretty well. He would be jealous of Niall for going on a date and would drop his dirty socks next to the couch, Harry would go out on a Friday night and Niall would burn his toast the next morning and turn the volume on his playlist up.

But that last time Niall wasn’t talking to him and Harry knew he had to apologize. They were living together for almost five years, everyone thought they were a couple but none of them would take the first step. It was too perfect, too comfortable. So when Harry brought someone one night, he knew he crossed a line. So when the agency he works for gave him the option to spend 18 months in Los Angeles, he took the opportunity.

 “Why are we hiding?” Niall whispers, Harry shrugs and they have to put their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing. They have time, Harry tells himself. They are gonna be okay.

They can hear Gemma ask her mom if she wants some tea as she lets the cats get out of their cases and they start meowing in different places. Harry is pretty sure they already found the others, which means it’s just matter of minutes before his mother goes to check what’s going on and finds them.

“Would you really kiss me?” Harry asks, looking a Niall’s profile as he looks at the door.

Niall turns to Harry, eyes wide open like he forgot he made that statement just minutes ago, then he laughs, quietly, trying to avoid Harry’s eyes but he’s not looking away. They have never really talked about it, there were just gentle touches and kisses on the cheeks when the feelings were too much to handle. But Harry never told Zayn or Liam about that and he knows for a fact that Niall never told Louis. They wouldn’t have heard the end of it.

“It’s just a game, Haz.” Niall laughs again and looks down but Harry is pretty done with this game they’ve been playing for years, he’s done with the bad timing and hurting each other’s feelings.

So he grabs Niall’s face with his fingers and gets closer to him, kneeling down in front of him and breathing over this lips. Niall looks at his eyes and opens his mouth, his lips are trembling and suddenly, his hand is on the top of Harry’s when he touches Niall’s cheek.

“Would you?” He asks again, with fear and hope in his voice, Niall nods.

It’s gentle, like they’ve been waiting a lifetime for this because they have. And for a second, it’s just them breathing on each other’s mouths, trying to touch everything and not to cry, laughing over their lips as they try to kiss again.

When Harry’s mom finally opens the door with everyone behind her and lets the light invade the room, they find them kissing, which is fine because everyone is mumbling _it was about time_ and Louis is yelling about how everything is thanks to him. And Harry doesn’t really care, neither does Niall because after being teased by everyone, they order some pizza decide to watch a movie together on the couch. Just like old times, only this time Niall’s back is resting on Harry’s chest and everything feels how it’s supposed to.


End file.
